Dear Paul : A digital compass receives it's info from a internal to the compass unit which measures the earth magnetic field and translates this info to digital data . Some units are capable of receiving input as it pertains to " Variation " . You must keep in mind however that variation changes geographically and such input would only be useful if your cruising is within reasonable distance from your home port. Only " Kreisel " compasses are capable to ignore variation and deviation . These kind of compasses are very expensive and generally not available for the average boater. ----- Original Message ----- From: Paul Shepherd <shepherd@xxxxxxxx> To: <rhillsqd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: October 13, 2004 3:28 PM Subject: [rhillsqd] Digital Compass Question > Hello, > Thanks to keith for signing the current crop of students up to the rhill forum. > > I did have a question about digital compasses after last evening's > course. I have only a simple hand-bearing compass, so am not familiar with > the digital units. > > Do the digital units correct for deviation/variation - essentially giving > you a "true north" compass?? > > Seems to me that it wouldn't be that difficult to "program" the digital > compass with your own deviation table, and variation could either be > determined by entering it with buttons, or by using a GPS interface - the > compass could determine the variation from your lat/long and some look-up > tables. > > So, my question is - is that how most of the digital compasses work? or do > they just give the same information as a conventional compass with the > added benefit of a digital display. > > Thanks for your time, .... Paul Shepherd > > > > > ******************************************** > Paul Shepherd, Software and Systems Design > Grant Systems Engineering > Tel: 905-833-0061 Fax: 905-833-0090 > Email: shepherd@xxxxxxxx http://www.grant.ca > ******************************************** > > --------------------------------------------------------- > List Home page > //www.freelists.org/webpage/rhillsqd > Admin: keefer1543@xxxxxxxxxxxx > --------------------------------------------------------- List Home page //www.freelists.org/webpage/rhillsqd Admin: keefer1543@xxxxxxxxxxxx